Schlitz

A federal district judge in Minneapolis has upheld a $2.1 million arbitration award to Chicago businessman Angelo Geocaris by the former Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co., now part of Stroh Brewery Co. of Detroit. Lowell E. Sachnoff, attorney for Geocaris, said the court found "no manifest disregard of the law" in the judgment last October by a three-member arbitration panel in Minneapolis. The panel, in a 2-1 vote, agreed with Geocaris that the decline in quality of Schlitz beer in the mid-1970s violated...

The last of eight taverns to request landmark status will move one step closer to attaining it Thursday at the City Council's Zoning Committee meeting. The committee is expected to recommend landmark designation of the former Schlitz Brewery tavern in Bucktown to the full City Council, which has the final vote. Landmark status would put restrictions on future changes to the building to protect its "significant historical and architectural features. " It would also...

Pabst Brewing Co. resurrected its faded brands — not with giant banners or shot-girls sporting logo-branded T-shirts — but through grass-roots and guerrilla marketing efforts, like someone painting a logo on a skateboard, a guy riding up a ski lift handing out free brews and artists incorporating Pabst Blue Ribbon cans into their oil paintings. "It was what the brand stood for, which was that we embrace people for what they are, their creativity and...

The last of eight taverns to request landmark status will move one step closer to attaining it Thursday at the City Council's Zoning Committee meeting. The committee is expected to recommend landmark designation of the former Schlitz Brewery tavern in Bucktown to the full City Council, which has the final vote. Landmark status would put restrictions on future changes to the building to protect its "significant historical and architectural features. " It would also...

Pabst Blue Ribbon: the breakfast of Chicago hipsters. Old Style: beer of the Chicago Cubs . Schlitz: "The beer that made Milwaukee famous. " In Los Angeles? It would be difficult to find a more quintessentially Midwestern pack of brews than those owned by Woodridge-based Pabst Brewing Co., whose announcement Wednesday that it would move its headquarters to LA took state officials and branding experts by surprise. "I do kind of want to grab these guys by the ears...

Pabst Brewing Co. resurrected its faded brands — not with giant banners or shot-girls sporting logo-branded T-shirts — but through grass-roots and guerrilla marketing efforts, like someone painting a logo on a skateboard, a guy riding up a ski lift handing out free brews and artists incorporating Pabst Blue Ribbon cans into their oil paintings. "It was what the brand stood for, which was that we embrace people for what they are, their creativity and...

Pabst Blue Ribbon: the breakfast of Chicago hipsters. Old Style: beer of the Chicago Cubs . Schlitz: "The beer that made Milwaukee famous. " In Los Angeles? It would be difficult to find a more quintessentially Midwestern pack of brews than those owned by Woodridge-based Pabst Brewing Co., whose announcement Wednesday that it would move its headquarters to LA took state officials and branding experts by surprise. "I do kind of want to grab these guys by the ears...

For more than a century the beer barons of Milwaukee brewed the golden liquid that won blue ribbons, put a little gusto into life and made Milwaukee famous. At one time, the city had dozens of breweries run by powerful family dynasties headed by men named Uihlein, Pabst or Miller. They provided jobs for thousands of families and paid the bills for festive civic affairs. Their families all but became the aristocracy of the largely Teutonic city. Now, though,...

I roll into Ashland, Wis., just around quitting time and head straight to Deep Water Grille, a block off U.S. Highway 2, a stone's throw from Lake Superior. The restaurant also is home to South Shore Brewery, and at the end of the bar, having one of his own ales before heading home, is Bo Belanger, the brewmaster. I join him for a pint and hear about what he has brewing. He's busy, as always, and plans are under way to find a larger space to keep up with the demand. His Nut Brown Ale alone...

Edgar J. Uihlein Jr. and a partner in the 1940s took over a small business that produced metal rings to hold together papers and turned the company into one of the leading manufacturers of plastic binding equipment in the United States. "He just enjoyed taking something really small, working really hard and making a go of it," said his daughter Lucia. "It gave him satisfaction to know that he had been able to be one of the ones to create a successful company. He was very modest, but he was certainly one...

At age 60, Mac Harvey said he felt too young to retire. "I still feel that same way today," said Harvey, now 89 and vice president of sales and marketing for Lincolnwood-based Louis Glunz Beer Inc., which represents beers from 172 breweries worldwide. Harvey's involvement with beer sales spans 57 years, the only kind of work he's done except for managing a small hotel for six years after being discharged as a naval aviator following World War II. He...

Number of former Schlitz "tied-houses" known to still be standing in Chicago. The Milwaukee brewer once owned 57 of these franchised pubs here. The two most prominent remaining: Schubas and Southport Lanes, both on Southport Avenue.

In his "Remembrance of Things Past," French novelist Marcel Proust's protagonist sips a spoonful of tea in which he has dunked one of the cookies called petites madeleines. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose: "No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me. ... An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses. ... The vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory -- this new sensation having had on me...

When the Volstead Act attempted to dry out a thirsty nation, the Glunz family business turned to "medicinal" alcohol, bourbon flavorings and home- brew accessories. When Schlitz sales went as flat as stale ale, the family turned to Stroh Brewery Co. And when Americans developed a taste for imported beers, the Glunzes had a warehouse stocked with such favorites as Beck's and Molson to please a more cultured palate. In 1988, Louis Glunz Inc. of Lincolnwood will mark its 100th...

You can have your 3 a.m. White House crisis call. You can bring Harry Caray back from the dead as a raving coot. You can even have the one in which pals are riding in their Volkswagen, blithely gabbing away like they're in an old Dockers ad, until they get plowed into by another vehicle. But the scariest TV commercial of the last 40 years was for Schlitz beer, which Woodridge-based Pabst Brewing has announced it's bringing back to a few select locations on Chicago's North Side, using the...

Before there were Dairy Queens, McDonald's and Burger Kings, there were Schlitz taverns on many of Chicago's street corners, catering to the needs of those looking to quench their thirst. Not unlike today's McDonald's with their distinctive arches, these taverns from the 1890s had a unique architecture that set them apart from other Victorian buildings and tavern houses. While many of the taverns sported a concrete relief of the famous Schlitz globe logo (which...

"When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of ... " what? Can you remember? If you said "beer," congratulations, you're the target market for an attempt to revive the once-ubiquitous but now nearly dead beer brand right here in Chicago, where Schlitz once reigned supreme. And yes, it is a long, long shot, beer industry experts say. Next week, at select North Side outlets, Pabst Brewing Co., current owner of the Schlitz brand, will launch the revamped brew with an old 1960s recipe.

Budget-friendly retro beers are making a comeback with a younger generation of drinkers, and humble Pabst Blue Ribbon seems to be leading the pack. National shipments of Pabst were up 5.3 percent in 2002, says Pabst brand manager Neal Stewart, while industrywide sales grew only 1.4 percent, according to The Beer Institute, a trade association. And 2003 sales for Pabst through April already have registered an 8 percent increase over 2002, Stewart adds. One of the city's top distributors and local bartenders...